P W D L F A PTS
Valencia 6 2 3 1 5 6 9 **
Ajax 6 1 5 0 6 5 8 *
Arsenal 6 1 4 1 6 5 7
Roma 6 1 2 3 7 8 5
19 March 2003
ROMA 1-1 AJAX
Cassano 22 Van der Meyde 1
Ibrahimovic headed on a long ball out of defence to Van der Vaart, he lobbed the
ball forward to Van der Meyde, he cut inside the box and hit a great shot into the
top corner. Tommasi missed an immediate chance to equalise. An absolutely fabulous
move brought Roma level. Cassano chipped a pass to Candela, Candela was surrounded
by three Ajax players, he ran back before hitting a gorgeous pass to Cassano and he
slotted into the corner. Aldair hit a shot against the crossbar. There was a late chance
for Panucci but he headed wide.
Assists : Van der Vaart, Candela
VALENCIA 2-1 ARSENAL
Carew 35, 57 Henry 49
Vicente deflected a Gilberto Silva header against the crossbar. Carew fired Valencia
in front from an excellent Aimar pass. Henry equalised after a quick counter attack.
Donkey Wiltord took the ball off Vicente in his own penalty and as he ran out wide
stopped running allowing Vicente to regain possession, Vicente sent the ball
into the box and Carew met it with an athletic diving header.
Assists : Aimar, Pires, Vicente
11 March 2003
AJAX 1-1 VALENCIA
Pasanen 57 Kily Gonzalez 28 (pen)
Donkey Carew shot straight at Lobont when clean through on goal. Galasek
gave away a penalty for a truly stupid foul on Rufete. Kily converted. Ibrahimovic
blew a great chance late in the first half. Pasanen equalised with a header from
Maxwell's cross. Lobont made a fantastic save from Baraja and Van der Vaart
missed an open goal on a counter attack.
Assists : Rufete (won pen), Maxwell
ARSENAL 1-1 ROMA
Vieira 12 Cassano 47
A rarity for Arsenal, a headed goal from a corner. Keown got Totti sent off with
a despicable piece of playacting, he fell clutching his nose after Totti caught him
on the neck when challenging for a cross. Arsenal paid the price for their
overindulgent, pretty football at the end of the first half. Emerson sent a long
ball forward to Cassano, he raced away from the slow Arsenal defence, rounded
Seaman, leaving the pathetic old 'keeper on his knees before arrogantly flicked
the ball into the corner. Wiltord (x2), Pires and Henry should have put Arsenal
out of sight and into the quarter-finals. Montella almost made the Gunners pay
dearly but missed a sitter late on.
Assists : Van Bronckhorst (ck), Emerson
Roma are still alive though only just. Without Totti however it's hard to see how
they will get the victory (by a two goal margin) they need to make the quarter-finals.
Ajax only need a point. Arsenal are up shit creek without a paddle. They've been piss
poor in the Champions League this season and I will be amazed if they don't bottle
it in the Mestalla. A draw is good enough for Arsenal. Valencia must win to be sure
of a place in the quarter-finals.
26 FEBRUARY 2003
AJAX 0-0 ARSENAL
Utter, utter SHITE. Chivu had Ajax's best chance, his free kick sailed over the wall but
was cleared by Cole. Vieira shot straight at Lobont from a Bergkamp free kick.
VALENCIA 0-3 ROMA
Totti 24, 30
Emerson 36
Roma's talisman headed his team into the lead from a corner. Cassano started the move
which gave Totti his second minutes later. He sprayed the ball out wide to Cafu, Cafu
centred and Totti hit a superb first time shot into the top right corner of the net. Emerson
started and finished a brilliant counter attack with a ball out wide to Cassano, Cassano
passed infield to Emerson, Emerson stepped over the ball, Totti played him in and he rolled
under Canizares. Cafu should have made it 0-4 from Totti's outrageous back heel. Cassano
blew another opportunity by overindulging when through in on Canizares.
It's about time this utterly mediocre Valencia team got their reject arses handed to them
in Europe.
Assists : Candela (ck), Cafu, Totti
This group is wide open. Ajax need to start showing some ambition if they are to progress from
this group. Arsenal stink in Europe. Their one dimensional rapid passing game is easy to combat.
Arsenal do not have the personnel to play direct when they need to. As for Roma anything is
possible if Totti is fit.
18 FEBRUARY 2003
ARSENAL 1-1 AJAX
Wiltord 5 De Jong 17
A perfect start for the Gunners. Vieira and Bergkamp combined to send Wiltord racing into acres
of space down the right, he cut inside the box before shooting under Lobont. Galasek hit a long
ball forward to De Jong which Cole really should have cut out though I expect he was waiting for
the flag to be raised for offside, De Jong ran into the box and lobbed over Seaman (insert joke
here). Gilberto and Pires were guilty of some bad misses. Bergkamp hit the outside of a post with
a snapshot on the turn. Boukhari almost stole a point when he ran into a cross and the ball trickled
wide of the post. Kanu wasted a chance late on.
Assist : Bergkamp
ROMA 0-1 VALENCIA
Carew 78
As I expected this was a dreadful match. Canizares should have been sent off for hacking down
Montella but escaped with a yellow card. Carew won the match when he slung a cross into the
box, it bounced off the inside of a post under Pelizzoli.
Assist : Mista
10 DECEMBER 2002
AJAX 2-1 ROMA
Ibrahimovic 11 Batistuta 89
Litmanen 67
An almighty cock-up gave Ajax an early lead. De Jong tried his luck from outside the box
with a nothing shot, a routine catch for well even someone like David Seamen but Antonioli
dropped it, Ibrahimovic ran onto the ball, Antonioli froze, he really couldn't do anything else,
and Ibrahimovic slotted into the corner. Ibrahimovic then set-up substitute Litmanen for a killer
second with a pass that took out three players, Litmanen gently curled the ball beyond Antonioli.
Panucci hit a long ball into the box and Batistuta punished Stekelenburg for his abysmal
positioning.
Capello has destroyed Roma. He will leave the team in the same sorry state he left Milan in the
mid 90s. The heart of the team are either or close to or the wrong side of 30 - Antonioli (33),
Cafu (32), Candela (29), Panucci (29), Batistuta (33). The defence is a terrible state, Samuel
can no longer bail out his vastly inferior team-mates. There is no depth and no creativity aside
from Totti. Sensini would need to spend somewhere in the region of £30 million at least to
rebuild this team. Sensini hasn't got the money and Capello hasn't got the know how.
Assists : Ibrahimovic, Panucci
ARSENAL 0-0 VALENCIA
Bergkamp was inevitably involved in all of Arsenal's best moves. He muscled his way past old
friend Ayala, the player he so wonderfully abused when scoring the greatest World Cup goal of
all time against Argentina in 1998, before sending a prefect cross to an unmarked Ljungberg
but the Swedish midfielder completely miss controlled the ball. A Bergkamp back heel and super
first time pass from Vieira, who left the field injured shortly thereafter, gave Henry a clear run on
goal but he hesitated allowing Palop to save. Ljungberg turned his marker brilliantly as he ran
onto a Pires pass but Palop flew off his line to block and Ayala cleared off the line on Pires' follow
up. Palop made a Hollywood save from a Bergkamp header following the move of the night.
Angulo was sent off for ramming his elbow into Cygan's gut. In injury time Palop denied Arsenal
again with another stunning reaction save from Kanu, Kanu knocked the ball to Wiltord but
his miss kicked horribly and his weak shot was cleared off the line. Speaking of goal line
clearances Campbell bailed out Seamen when Carew beat him to a cross. Arsenal had late
shouts for a penalty turned down when 307 year old Carboni handled in or just outside the box.
Carboni is so old that when he first started playing football his shoes would melt because the
Earth was still hot, that's how old he is!
Valencia played like cowards. They had 10 men behind the ball and were quick to snub out
Arsenal attacks via systematic fouls.
27 NOVEMBER 2002
ROMA 1-3 ARSENAL
Cassano 4 Henry 6, 70, 75
A long goal kick started the attack which gave Roma the lead. Cassano played a one-two with
Totti, made Campbell look lethargic with a quick turn then shot in off the post. Donkey King
Panucci gift wrapped the equaliser to Henry with a lame attempt at clearing Gilberto's through
pass. Roma kept looking for penalties. First Totti then Cassano followed by Guigou in the second
half. Cassano was in fact fouled by Campbell but made such a meal of the challenge that the ref
wasn't interested. Cygan made a stunning goal-line clearance from Totti. Henry pounced on another
monumental cock-up by Panucci to restore Arsenal's lead. The finish was excellent, left foot straight
through Antonioli's legs. He completed his hat-trick with a blistering free kick.
Assists : Totti, Gilberto, Wiltord (won fk)
VALENCIA 1-1 AJAX
Angulo 92 Ibrahimovic 88
A clever back heel from Angulo left Carew unmarked inches in front of an open goal yet he
somehow managed to shoot over the bar. Litmanen wasted a great chance to give Ajax a shock
lead then it was all Valencia. Angulo headed wide and Mista was twice denied certain goals by the
phenomenal Didulica as was Baraja from a free kick. Chivu almost lost his rib cage in a collision
with the post when heading out Carew's cross after Didulica had once again thwarted a Valencia
attack. Ibrahimovic played a one-two with Van der Vaart and rounded Canizares as the Valencia
defence appealed for offside before tapping into an empty net. into injury time Valencia hit a long
ball into the Ajax box, Chivu failed to clear and Angulo took a pass from Dos Santos before finally
beating Didulica.
Assists : Van der Vaart, Dos Santos
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